Digital Home Thoughts: New Digital Music Promotion and Distribution Channel: Reality TV

I've watched Rock Star: INXS for the past couple of weeks, and I'm hooked. Great show! I tend to avoid most reality shows because I firmly believe they cause brain damage, but as a musician myself I really enjoy watching the performers on Rock Star: INXS. They're all very good vocalists, and the house band is killer. The show is also great marketing for Verizon and MSN - they get constant plugs. At any rate, I learned today that MSN Music has a special page with tracks that you can download if you liked the cover version. Very cool! That's the first time I've seen music distribution from contestants on a reality show. What I found a bit curious was the pricing - a live track by an essentially unknown vocalist, with a great but unknown house band, and it's the same 99 cents as the mainstream studio track. Unless that track is from the Rolling Stones, in which case the live version of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" will set you back $1.98. Of course, I can't buy any of this stuff since MSN Music isn't available in Canada. Woe is me!

The other interesting thing about this MSN Music tie-in is that I can go back and listen to the people who got booted off before I started watching. When I went to week two and heard the clip of Neal Carlson doing "Summer of '69" I had to stop myself from reaching for the nearest screwdriver and jamming it into my ear. 8O He must have been fodder from the beginning. You can also read the blogs from the people on the show. Curiously they never post after they've been booted - gee, I wonder why? :lol: